Hall at the double as women finish in style
Newbury & Thatcham 2nd XI end season in the runners-up spot
KATIE Hall struck twice as Newbury & Thatcham women’s 2nd XI sealed second place in South Central Division 1 Thames.
Newbury outgunned Reading 6th 3-1 to set the seal on a successful season.
Mary Cavanagh was also on target for Newbury, while player of the match was Juliette Hornby.
Newbury’s 3rd XI were celebrating an even greater achievement in Division 2 Thames.
They finished a brilliant season with a 3-1 win over Yateley 2nd, romping to the title eight points clear of Marlow 5th.
They won 20 and lost only one of their 22 games, scoring 72 goals and conceding only seven.
Caroline Bairstow (2) and Tamaryn Lang grabbed the goals against Yateley.
The 4th XI rounded off their campaign with a 3-1 win over Wallingford 4th, thanks to goals from playerof-the-match Amanda Bicknell and Gillian Kearins (2).
Newbury men’s wrapped up their campaign with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Sonning 2nd.
The result sealed the South Central Division 1 North title for Sonning, while Newbury ended the season in sixth spot..
Player of the match was Jamie Bairstow.
The 2nd XI finished fourth in Division 2 North
after drawing 2-2 against Sonning 2nd.
Matt Martin hit both the Newbury goals, while star man was Alistair Howell.
Newbury 3rd finished second in Division 4 North after losing final game 4-3 at fourth-placed Witney.
That left them three points adrift of champions Oxford 3rd.
Witney stormed into an early 2-0 lead, but Ben Cook narrowed the gap before half-time.
Cook struck again to level the scores, only for Witney to regain the lead.
Cook completed his hattrick to make it 3-3, only for Witney to grab the winner from a penalty corner.
Newbury 4th finished fourth in South Central Division 1 Thames after beating Phoenix Reading 2nd 5-2.
Chris Obin and man-ofthe-match Christian Somerville both struck twice, while Toby Walters was also on target.
Newbury’s 5th XI ended their Division 2 Thames campaign in fifth place after losing 5-3 to champions South Berkshire 6th.
It was South Berks who took an early lead, and although Josh Plank grabbed an equaliser, the home side led 2-1 at the break.
Newbury played some of their best hockey of the season in the second half.
But although Plank struck twice more to complete his hat-trick, South Berks finished strongly to clinch the title.